Five signs you’re holding back your business

Employees are a founder CEO’s ‘canary in the mine’. When it’s time to change your ways for the good of the company, your team will notice first. If your culture encourages feedback and your team has the courage to share what they see, you’ll find out early on that there’s a problem.

If not, there’s more work to do because your Board only sees what you share with them and when they do pick up that there’s a problem, all too often they look to replace the founder. 

Below, I share five signs that it’s time to step back and look at your behaviour so your business can scale sustainably.

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Periodically reflecting on your performance as a founder CEO ensures you remain ahead of your business’ growth curve. Photo by: Andre Piacquadio on Pexels

Asking your team for feedback is an efficient way to pick up problems early. If you hear that you've become a bottleneck for decisions, notice new senior recruits quickly leave and your loyal followers are burning out, it's time to take a look at your company culture and leadership. Aata's Leadership Check-in will help identify problems early.

Employees are an ‘early indicator’ that something isn’t right

Part of my role in Aata’s leadership check-in is to talk to a company’s employees to assess how the founder comes across and performs in their role. This feedback forms part of the process of development and their coaching programme.

There are common themes in the conversations I have with employees in companies where the founder’s ways of working are no longer good for the business and phrases they repeat that are uncannily common. This interview with a previous employee of such a company describes these themes in their words.

“I worked for this company for four years. They were a successful business, with a fantastic product. I loved my team and the role but in the end, it was too frustrating. The company had started as 5 individuals co-located together. This original company became a parent company of a group, supporting a nationwide team of 3000 people. They held onto their original work culture for too long.”

1. The Founder CEO is a bottleneck for decisions

“Over time it became clear that the Heads of Department weren’t there to lead their departments, they were there to assist the founder. Any innovative ideas or solutions a department came up with appeared to be stifled as a matter of routine. Unless it came from the ‘right’ people.

When a project was signed off, every decision was run past the founding team in fear of them overriding it at a later date - which made it slow to get anything done. Many projects lost steam and just stopped without any reason given.

I remember a simple amendment to a contract of employment, which sat on a founder’s desk for nearly 12 months. Also, a new policy format that was rejected four months after it had been written, which was long past the deadline for that piece of work.”

2. A high turnover of senior roles

“Those Heads of Department who took ownership and initiative often disappeared around the 6-month mark. 

A new starter would be announced, a few would make six months in the business but generally, they would disappear without acknowledgement.

When they were spoken of they were often discredited with comments such as - ‘they weren’t one of us’ or ‘they were very disruptive’.”

3. Management lack the necessary skills to scale

“The people who did make it were the internal candidates, loyalists who were promoted because they understood the vision. They often didn’t have the necessary skills to effectively run their department and would either be signed off with burnout, or they were moved on to the next unsuspecting department within 12 months.”

4. Unwillingness to trust external experts

“Multiple attempts were made to bring in systems and processes to help the organisation run more efficiently. Mostly they were rejected for being ‘too corporate’.

Where there was a recognised need the default would be to ask one of the in-house teams to put something together, rather than bring in an external supplier who ‘won’t understand our business’. 

The resulting reporting tools and performance reports were woefully inadequate, creating re-work for teams that were already stretched and backlogs they’d never get on top of. These teams that weren’t performing, would then be restructured. One team was re-structured twice whilst I was there.”

5. Unsustainable expectations placed on employees

“What was most disturbing however was the socially acceptable sacrifice.

The founders’ constant presence and always-working attitude rubbed off on the staff team, creating an environment where being hardworking meant regular seven-day weeks, self-neglect, and disruption of family life.

I cannot count the number of staff who ran themselves ragged trying to exceed unrealistic expectations without question.”

The transition from Founder to CEO

As a founder it is easy to get into this position. Starting a business requires you to be hands-on and relentlessly committed. However, there comes a time when you must trust your team and delegate responsibility for the business to flourish.

This is a challenging transition to make as you no longer have the satisfaction of rolling up your sleeves to get the job done and you are no longer needed to make every decision. Founders can often feel isolated and demotivated as a result  - and might pick up pet projects. 

Take time to step back from the business and see it as a benevolent observer would.

Look at the data before you.

The Role of Founder Coaching

Our specialty is supporting founders to navigate the complex transition from founder to CEO while scaling a business sustainably. Our founder coaching programmes are specifically designed for female founders leading impact businesses at different stages in their entrepreneurial careers.

Our Leadership Check-in is the perfect place to begin your journey with Aata. It’s a diagnostic tool designed to assess how your current ways of working are impacting your team and your business.

If you’re ready to make a change, book your complimentary chemistry call.